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cap

noun · verb

Simple meaning

A close-fitting hat, either brimless or peaked.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kap
US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkæp

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. A close-fitting hat, either brimless or peaked.

  2. A special hat to indicate rank, occupation, etc.

  3. A protective cover or seal.

  4. An upper limit on what is allowed

  5. An artificial upper limit or ceiling.

  6. A crown for covering a tooth.

verb

  1. transitive

    To cover or seal with a cap.

  2. transitive

    To award a cap as a mark of distinction.

  3. transitive

    To lie over or on top of something.

  4. transitive

    To set (or reach) an upper limit on something.

  5. transitivefigurative

    To conclude; to make something even more wonderful at the end.

  6. To deprive of a cap.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: A close-fitting hat, either brimless or peaked.

Used this way, cap is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use cap

  • “We had to cap the number of people we can accept into our club.”verb

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

baseball capice capred cappolar capsmall capwhite capfur cap

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.